Queclink: “We already know how to get to the top.”

In 2019, the hardware manufacturer Queclink did not make it to the GPS Hardware Manufacturers TOP 10, but the company’s managers promised they would be in this chart in 2020. And Queclink kept their promise, making it to the 7th position straight away this year.  

We asked a Queclink International Sales manager Manuel Mendoza to tell us what helped them fulfill the promise, share the company’s plans concerning the markets of Western Europe, the CIS region countries, and how COVID-19 affected their business.

How do you feel about being in TOP 10?

Finally, we are in the TOP 10! We did it! This is a good result, but we still have room for improvement. At the same time, we already know how to get to the leading positions. We have the potential for growth and opportunities for that.

Was getting to the TOP a surprise for you? 

We monitored the number of our devices connected to Wialon so that we could estimate our position on the list. We thought it would be 8th or 9th, but the reality turned out to be better.

Can you share your secret? What helped you get right to the 7th position? 

We can explain this success by the general steady growth of our company year by year. It has especially increased in the last 2-3 years. When it comes to connections to Wialon, the platform’s entering the Latin American market became a catalyst as we already had a good market position there. Moreover, we have started working more actively in Europe, too, where we met Wialon again. So, our connection growth spurt is a natural result of the company’s growth.

Life connects you with Gurtam all over the world. What are your impressions of this cooperation?

I personally and Queclink are happy to work with Gurtam. We have established direct communications, and our team is always open to cooperation. Almost all our hardware types are integrated with Wialon, and your team quickly integrates new devices. 

You mentioned that Queclink became more active in Europe. There, as you know, there are already quite strong players. How do you plan to promote your brand in these terms?

In the US and Latin America, where we have been working for a long time, we are a well-known company. But in the CIS countries and Europe, we are still growing and building our name within the fleet management market. Many of those who are just getting to know us are surprised by our business’s volume: more than 10 million of our devices are working worldwide. And it is despite the fact that Queclink is still relatively young (the company was established in 2009). You would also be amazed, but in volumes, Europe is our biggest market (around 30%), mainly from a few very strong partnerships we have within the region. Still, we have an ambitious expansion plan for reaching a bigger number of companies.

Now we plan on achieving substantial growth in Europe and the CIS region. We understand that we have to be closer to our partners, so we already have employees in Russia, Denmark, and myself in Lithuania. Europe and the CIS countries are the regions that we want to focus on now. Here we would like to pick up the pace. 

How did COVID-19 affect your plans? 

Of course, markets have seriously slowed down. The sales have decreased, and the volume of new device installations has dropped. But I can’t say that everything has completely stopped. There was a bit of good luck because, during the preparations for the Chinese New Year in early 2020, we have filled up our warehouses with all the necessary components for the devices’ production. So, our manufacturing process was well-prepared. Another issue came up around logistics as lockdowns led to many restrictions, and delivering devices to partners got more complicated.

I can’t say that the pandemic is over for us, but in general, the situation began to improve somewhere in June. Instability still prevails in Latin America, but everything seems to be more or less normal in Europe.

At the beginning of the interview, you told me that you see the potential for increasing your position in the TOP 10 list. Maybe you want to announce something? 

We are planning to launch new solutions. For example, new products supporting LTE and NB IoT technologies will appear soon. We want to build up a set of such devices in our portfolio. We’ll also release more devices for asset tracking. We are going to announce several more products by the end of this year. So we invite the Wialon partners to take a closer look at our portfolio, where we already have vehicle and trailer trackers, devices for personal monitoring, and a broad selection of battery-powered devices, etc.